goal setter, stationery addict, planner girl, volunteer

The Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award

Hi guys! I am back from my holiday now so finally getting around to catching up with some overdue posts!

This post is a little bit different for me but basically Angie kindly nominated me for the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award so I’m dedicating this post to that. First up, I just want to say that I’m absolutely thrilled to be nominated – especially given I’ve only recently started blogging – and I certainly did not expect it. So a big thank you to the lovely Angie for giving me this pleasure. There are a few rules to follow, which I’ve taken from her post and she’s given me 10 questions to answer! So, let’s go!

The Rules:
1) Thank the blogger(s) who nominated you and link them in your post.
2) Answer the ten questions you have been sent.
3) Come up with 10 questions of your own.
4) Spread the love and nominate up to 10 bloggers!

Angie’s Questions for me:

1) What was the best gift you have ever received?
This is an incredibly tricky one! I’m one of those people that is very easily pleased so I love pretty much every present I have ever got. One thing that comes to mind is a set of rings my mum brought me years ago. I think they were under £5, so definitely not expensive! But I rarely ever got birthday presents when I was growing up from my family and I really wanted to buy some rings to wear. My mum brought some (I believe they were from Avon) and left them on my chair or pillow or something, with a cute note and the whole unexpectedness of the present (and the note) was what made it a memorable present. I actually think letters are one of the best things to receive. My friend had to send me some stuff at work and so, included a letter that said “okay now stop smiling and get back to work” and it was amazing because I really was smiling at the whole letter and that part made me laugh.

2) If you could steal anybody’s closet (celebrity, tv/movie character, blogger, etc), whose would you want and why?
I’m not really one for fashion so I don’t really have a particular person in mind. If I could pull it off, I would love to go with the closet of Daenerys (from Game of Thrones) as I love the elegance of the long dresses. Unfortunately, I really can’t pull those off! (And a lot of her outfits would be a weird thing to wear to the office…)

3) If you were an actor, would you rather be cast as the hero or the villain and why?
I’d be one of those unexpected heroes. Like Hancock. Someone who did a lot of damage and didn’t seem like a typical hero but had good intentions and did good things! This character would sorta reflect my personality or lifestyle. Sometimes I do feel too lazy and can’t be bothered to get up and help people but I will do because I know I should and when I do, I love it. I absolutely love volunteering and enjoy helping people when I can but I am quite a loud person, who does swear a bit and I constantly banter with friends or colleagues in a mocking way. I am joking when I banter with them and they know that & enjoy it but to an outsider, it could seem like I’m just being mean! Definitely an atypical hero, I think.

4) If you were a singer, what would your debut album by called?
Eurgh, I’m terrible with names. So bad with names. I struggled for ages to decide if I should name this blog something more related to stationery or have it as aumsome, which has more meaning to me. I’d probably go with a very short title, like one word. Probably even “Untitled” after getting fed up of trying to come up with a better name than that. But most likely, it would depend on the songs in the album. I would want a word to encapsulate all of the songs and the theme of the album.

5) What was your favorite childhood cartoon?
I grew up loving Sailor Moon and I remember making sure I was home & in front of my TV in time to watch it and tried to catch it daily, if I could. I constantly wanted to watch it! Then again… I constantly wanted to watch TV in general and loved a lot of cartoons. Pokemon was a big addiction in my life too but that was more focused on the games, rather than the cartoon show (though I did also watch those).

6) What company(ies) would you love to be a brand representative for?
It would have to be a brand that I love and regularly think, “Can I just buy the entire store, please?!” so definitely a Stationery or craft related brand. Craft wise: Simon Says Stamp, Mama Elephant & Lawn Fawn are some current favourites. Stationery wise, I have too many. Everything from Paperchase & Ryman to Waterstones (that have a killer stationery section!). I’m a sucker for anything Leuchtturm 1917 (it’s almost painful how much so).

Currently I’m loving Chroma Stationery and talking about it to anyone & everyone. My colleague told me I was like a brand representative for them as I was passionately telling everyone in the office about the notebooks I’ve ordered.

7) What is your favorite food to cook?
I’m really not a fan of cooking. I like baking – if that counts! But sadly, haven’t done that in a while. I think the dish I would be happy to cook right now would be a stir fry, as that is pretty simple and always tastes amazing! All you need is some noodles, some vegetables and sauce – and voila! Now that’s cooking I can do!!

8) What is your favorite holiday and why?
I love exploring new countries and seeing new sights. In particular, I love learning about ancient civilisations. Having recently visited Italy, one of my favourite things to do was to see the Ancient Rome sights (such as the Roman Forum & Colosseum) and to see how different each city. For example, Venice uses boats as a major form of transport whilst Rome has a great Metro to help get you places. I was lucky enough to be able to see the Duomo (a term used for Italian Cathedrals) in most of the cities we visited and that was really nice, as you got to see the differences between each of them and the different ways in which they were decorated.

9) What is your biggest pet peeve?
I absolutely can’t stand when people move my things, for no reason. I understand if I’ve left a bag in the way and they want to move it. That’s fine. But I cannot stand when someone comes into my room and moves everything on my desk or uses things from my bedroom and doesn’t put it back. One of my shelves, for example, has different types of paper on it – it is colour coordinated and sorted by the type of paper (printer paper, thick card, watercolour paper etc) – so if someone moves that around, I would get annoyed. Those papers are in a certain order and if moved, I would struggle to remember exactly what gsm the paper was or the company it came off (especially with the white pages!) so it can be a huge hassle. If people borrow things, I always tell them just to leave it on my bed or desk afterwards and I’ll put it away properly later – rather than them guessing where it went since if it was organised in an order, it would annoy me if it was out of place!

10) What are your blogging goals for 2015?
Being a new blog, I think my main goal for this year is to just work on the foundation. Build a base, regularly post and connect with other bloggers. To basically find my feet in the blogging world. I am hoping to find the courage to attend a blogger event before the end of the year, to host a blog chat on twitter and to receive one stationery/craft item for free to review. I am also working on the lifestyle section of my blog and hope to have settled into a blogging schedule that allows me to consistently post up on both sections. But mostly, to make friends in the blogging world and start connecting with others!

I’ve tried to nominate some of the bloggers that I follow, who haven’t done it before! (I could be wrong – maybe they’ve all done it before – but I did try!!) And I’ve also nominated several fellow Stationery / Planning bloggers that I’ve been enjoying so please do check them out, if you’re interested 🙂

My Questions for You:

1. What are your Stationery Essentials, currently?
2. How did you pick your blog name and why did you choose it?
3. What are your favourite shops or brands right now?
4. What would be your ideal date?
5. If you could pick only one hobby to do for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
6. What’s your favourite blog post that you’ve done so far and why?
7. As a child, what did you want to be when you were an adult?
8. If you had to move to another country, which you pick and why?
9. What helps you to keep on top of your blogging with all of your other responsibilities?
10. What’s your favourite dessert?